Government invests £150 Million in Preparing Businesses for their Future

After an initial grant of £67 million earlier this year, the second round of government funding in the Employer Ownership Pilot has been set at £150 million, in an attempt to minimise the skills gap present in recruitment. Skills minister, Matthew Hancock, encourages businesses of all sizes to bid for shares so as to develop their workforce in preparation for the future, and “to be ambitious and innovative in their vision for how the fund can help them grow, from creating new apprenticeship programmes to setting up specialist training academies.”

He defined this investment as a “unique opportunity for companies across all industries to secure their futures by addressing their skills needs now.”

Peter Cheese, the CEO of the The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reiterates the point that companies should “have a vested interest in actively developing their own pipelines of future talent and need to take more of a lead in developing the workforce of the future,” as this will ultimately benefit their business and assist in the growth of the economy.